South Dakota

The state in a nutshell

The state of South Dakota is home to the 'Mount Rushmore National Memorial'.
This monument consists of the faces of the 4 presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln - chiseled in the rock.
Beyond this it is the home of the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota tribes, which make up the so-called Sioux Nation.

But this is not all that South Dakota has to offer : Pierre, the capital, is situated in the center of the state at the Missouri River.
The landscape in the easterly part is characterized as flat plains.

To the west the country rises up to the Black Hills with South Dakota's highest point (2.200 m / 7.218 ft) on Harney Peak.
Many of the attractions of the state, such as limestone caves, bison herds, wild horses, National Parks, gold mines, can be reached in a radius of 2-3 hours trip around Rapid City (on I-90).

Wild West
Some major places of the wild west history can be found in South Dakota and several names are connected with it: Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Calamity Jane, to name just a few.

South Dakota was the home of the Sioux, the so-called Great Sioux Nation, which was formed from seven different tribes.
This union was named: 'Seven Council Fires'.
Within the Great Sioux Nation three different dialects were spoken which also led to the fact that the members of the Great Sioux nation grouped themselves after their dialects: Dakota, Lakota and Nakota.

History

Louisiana Purchase: The United States bought the blue marked area (see map) from France for $15 million dollars.

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